Exactly seven years ago, Manuel Locatelli made a name for himself as a teenager when he stunned Juventus icon Gianluigi Buffon to score the winner for Milan.
So as fate would have it, the Italian replicated his heroics at the same stadium, in the same stage of the season and almost at the same moment of the encounter, but this time while donning the opposite shirt.
With Dusan Vlahovic and Federico Chiesa only fit enough for the bench, Max Allegri started with Moise Kean and Arek Milik upfront. Timothy Weah and Filip occupied the flanks while Weston McKennie joined captain stand-in Adrien Rabiot and Manuel Locatelli in the middle of the park.
On the other hand, Mike Maignan’s suspension and Marco Sportiello’s injury forced Stefano Pioli to resort to the services of his third-choice goalkeeper Antonio Mirante. However, the Bianconeri couldn’t test the 40-year-old throughout the first half.
The two sides traded jabs in the first 45 minutes. Wojciech Szczesny’s fingertip save denied Olivier Giroud who came extremely close to giving the home side the lead. Juve had their chances with Kostic, Rabiot and Kean but their efforts were off target.
Nevertheless, the most significant moment of the first half tipped the scale in Juve’s favor. Kean’s brilliant flick allowed him to skip past Malick Thiaw, but the German dragged down the striker who was heading straight towards goal, resulting in a straight red card which gave the visitors a numerical advantage.
After the interval, the Bianconeri took the pitch with only one thing on their mind, making the most of their extra man.
In the 63rd minute, Locatelli tried his luck from a long distance and his shot was deflected off the off Rade Krunic to beat the hapless Mirante.
Juventus had several other chances to double their lead and put the match to bed early, but they preferred to frustrate their exhausted hosts rather than gamble with the ball.
For one reason or another, Allegri was going nuts on the sidelines, ripping his clothes off. But at the end of the day, he’ll be pleased to see side his team only two points adrift from Inter who now sit on top of the Serie A table.
Final Score: 0-1
Scorer: Locatelli 63′ (J)
Red Card: Thiaw 40′ (M)
Juventus XI (3-5-2): Szczesny; Gatti (Huijsen), Bremer, Rugani; Weah (Miretti), McKennie, Locatelli, Rabiot. Kostic (Cambiaso); Milik (Chiesa), Kean (Vlahovic)
Congratulations on the win. Great character from Locatelli, worked so hard intercepting balls and covering up the space plus superb goal.
This is the worst Juve lineup I have ever seen. It beat`s the banter years post calciopoli with Poulsen, Sissoko, Molinaro and Mellberg in the lineup. Frankly I think it was a great feat coming away with a win even if the red card conditioned the game. With Rugani, Gatti, Weah, McKennie, Kostic and Milik in the lineup, you cannot expect that much, but Allegri did what he does and against opposition like Milan and having such a limited team I think it was a job well done and praises to Allegri an the team is warranted.